As the trial of three codefendants charged in multiple crimes in 2023 – including armed robbery, aggravated assault and a home invasion – draws closer, one of the two brothers charged entered a guilty plea last week in Jones County Superior Court.
The trial of Shaun and Terrell Mills and Donnie White was scheduled to begin Aug. 26.
Shaun Mills, 39, the younger brother, pleaded guilty Aug. 15 to seven counts of armed robbery. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole on each of the seven counts. The counts will run concurrently, and he will receive credit for time served in custody from his March 15, 2023, arrest.
The life sentences mean he will serve at least 29 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
The state was represented in the plea by District Attorney Wright Barksdale. Mills was represented by defense attorney Ashley Cooper. Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley accepted the plea. The Aug. 26 trial for Terrell Mills and White remains on schedule. A fourth defendant in the case, Corey Termain Wallace, entered a guilty plea May 9 to five charges of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 20 years each for four counts of aggravated assault and 10 years for a fifth count of aggravated assault. Two of the 20-year sentences were ordered to run consecutively with the 10-year sentence for a total sentence of 50 years with the first 30 years served in confinement. The remainder of the sentence may be served on probation.
Wallace was represented in the plea by public defender Tom O’Donnell, and the case was prosecuted by Barksdale. The negotiated plea was accepted by Bradley.
Wallace was arrested April 20, 2023.
Barksdale told the court in the proceeding that, when Wallace pled, the home invasion occurred Jan. 12, 2023, at a Jones County residence. He said the victims included an adult and two children. The armed robbery took place Jan. 21, 2023, at a convenience store in the south end of the county.
He said the offenders went to the station that had gambling machines late that night. They went in with guns and held up the people inside playing the machines and the clerk.
The prosecutor said, unlike the Mills brothers, Wallace did not have a criminal history and was cooperative by telling investigators what happened.
Terrell Mills, 42, was arrested in Jones County Jan. 27, 2023, and charged with armed robbery, home invasion first degree, possession of firearm by convicted felon or first offender, possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, two counts of cruelty to children first degree-maliciously causing excessive pain, cruelty to children first degree deprivation of sustenance, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, six counts of aggravated assault and five counts of armed robbery.
Shaun Mills was taken into custody March 9, 2023, in Anniston, Ala., by the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional and Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Forces, as well as the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office. He faced the same charges as his brother.
Shaun and Terrell Mills are charged in the armed robbery of the 49er Mart and a home invasion in Kingsview Village. The home invasion was committed Jan. 12, 2023.
The Mills brothers were also charged in Bibb County with felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault. The murder victim’s wife and daughter were also injured in the shooting.
A report of the January 2023 home invasion stated several armed males forced their way into a home occupied by a mother and three of her children. The armed robbery report stated several armed males committed an armed robbery at the 49er Mart on Shurling Drive Jan. 20, 2023.
The four defendants were indicted for the crimes by a Jones County Grand Jury Aug. 7, 2023.
A story about the indictments in The Jones County News stated Shaun Mills, Terrell Eugene Mills and Wallace were indicted for multiple counts of armed robbery home invasion, multiple counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
White was indicted for multiple counts of armed robbery, multiple counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in commission of felony.
Investigators with the Jones County Sheriff’s Office tied the suspects in the Jones County armed robbery and a home invasion that took place in January of 2023 and to a Bibb County homicide that happened in the same time frame.
White was arrested May 15, 2023 and charged with five counts of armed robbery and five counts of aggravated assault.
